Remembering 2024’s Music Losses: Billy Edd Wheeler

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Before I go home and pack for someplace warm (where it’s currently sn*wing) I’ll close out the alphabetical list of the music obituaries I’m highlighting from last year. This is a name that you won’t know unless you’re a deep country music geek (like, you know, me), but you WILL know one of the songs he wrote. Promise. Billy Edd Wheeler The man who paid homage to the outhouse! Billy Edd Wheeler’s “Ode to the Little Brown Shack Out Back” was his biggest hit as a singer, reaching the top five in 1964. If you ever used an outhouse…you’re OLD! My great-uncle had one, and I made sure I didn’t have to go to the bathroom while we were there! But that’s not the song of his that you’ll know. No, the song in question is “Jackson,” a massive hit for both Johnny & June (Cash and Carter) in country and Lee & Nancy (Hazlewood and Sinatra) in pop. Wheeler co-wrote it with Jerry Leiber of Leiber & Stoller fame, the latter using his then-wife’s name (Gaby Rodgers) as a pseudonym. That’s hotter than a pepper sprout! Actually, according to Wheeler, Leiber’s “writing” credit was more of advice and criticism of the original. Leiber suggested the end of the song (the famous “We got married in a fever”) should be the beginning. Wheeler took the advice, and a classic was born. His other songwriting credits include “The Reverend Mr. Black,” “it’s Midnight” (recorded by Elvis), and one of my least favorite songs in history, “Coward of the County.” Wheeler was pretty forgotten by many by the time he passed away, but those songs are going to live forever. So go to Jackson! Billy Edd Wheeler Born Billy Edward Wheeler, December 9, 1932, Boone County, West Virginia Died September 16, 2024, Swannanoa, North Carolina (natural causes) (age 91) HALLS OF FAME: Nashville Songwriters, North Carolina Music, West Virginia Music That iconic “Ode to the Little Brown Shack Out Back”: